How have I never heard of a band with twenty members? Seriously, they’ve got twenty members; they all dress in robes and perform gospel-type songs with a David Bowie sound. How have I never heard of a band with a ten person choir with some placement in commercials and movies? You might have never heard of the Polyphonic Spree either, but like me- you probably should have known who they were. The good news first; it’s David Bowie with a choir. David Bowie is a musical genius and his music is some of the best ever made. It’s really cool that someone in 2007 is emulating him so closely, but with a freaking choir. The bad news; Maybe this copies Bowie too closely. They say the copy is never as good as the real thing and the Polyphonic spree is no David Bowie. They don’t have a song that’s even close to a good Bowie song, a medium-low to medium Bowie song maybe. But a good Bowie song? Not even close. “The Fragile Army” is not for the casual music fan and there’s really not an in between. You’ll love this album or you’ll hate it. Personally, I loved it. The first three tracks start the album out roughly but once the learning curve has been eclipsed you’ll find yourself getting into things pretty easy- like the title track “The Fragile Army” or the ever catchy “Light to Follow”, or even the sweepingly melodic “Watch Us Explode (Justify).” Fans of Bowie should dig this (most of them don’t listen to anything but oldies stations these days though, so how does one get this to their attention?), but today’s music fans will find this hard to get through. People familiar with the Polyphonic Spree, especially their group of fans, will love this album.